The freebie was first included with the Samsung Series 550 back in May 2012 and has been available with all new Chrome OS devices sold since.

‘Most Chrome OS devices offer an anaemic 16GB of local storage space’

With the standard local storage offered by most Chrome OS devices being an anaemic 16GB, the extra cloud space comes in handy. Documents, photos and other files can be shunted to the cloud to be downloaded or streamed when needed from any device with an active internet connection.

On Chromebooks (and boxes and bases) Google Drive is baked into the desktop through the file manager. Here, you can quickly upload more files, pin your favourites for offline access and so on. Mobile apps cater to those on Android and iOS, and there are dedicated desktop clients available to those on Windows and Mac OS X.

100GB is a lot of space and while most of us won’t get anywhere near to using it all up before it expires, many of you may start to creep into it as the months pass.

Free + Free

15GB of Drive storage is already available to most Gmail/Google Account users. When you redeem your Chromebook ‘goodie’ from Google you’re getting 100GB + the free 15GB you already have, for a grand total of 115GB, as the Drive Storage chart below shows:

You can always check how much storage space you have left through the dashboard at drive.google.com/settings or by clicking on the cog icon in the Chrome OS file manager.

The Basics

When does the promotion expire?

The free storage offer is available for 24 months after redemption and not the purchase date of your device. Since this promotion first rolled out in May 2012 the first expirations should, in theory, start happening around now.

But if those first-day Series 550 buyers held off on claiming the promotion until, let’s say, July, then they still have a good month or so left to use their space.

If I buy another Chromebook does that mean I end up with 200GB of free space?

Sadly not! Google say the offer is only available once per Google account or once per device, whichever is used first. If you claim the free space on one Chrome OS device you cannot then ‘stack’ more when/if you buy another. This is also why the offer is often not available to those who buy a second-hand or open box device.

There is one exception to the rule, however. Google say that the 1TB of Google Drive storage available to purchasers of the Chromebook Pixel is a separate promotion and can be combined with the 100GB promotion. The 1TB is valid for three years.

Do files get deleted when the free Drive promotion ends?

This is the question many readers ask us. The good news is that your files are not deleted when the offer expires. Instead, Google will prevent you from uploading further files until you fall back below the regular quota of 15GB.

For example, let’s say you have 20GB of files stored when the cut off date reaches you. This means you end up with 5GB of files over the default 15GB Google offers to all users.

You can still access, download, edit and share all of your files as normal but — and this is the important part — you won’t be able to add more files until you either buy extra storage space or delete/migrate the file excess.

That’s a relief! So I can download my files after the offer expires?

Yes. To download them for safe keeping locally you will be able to use the web interface or the official sync clients for Windows and Mac. Once you’ve download the files exceeding your quota, move them to a local folder and delete them from Google Drive. Repeat this until you’re below the regular free 15GB limit and you’ll once again be able to upload new files.

Conclusion

Although it only runs for a limited time the free space promotion is a fantastic bonus for Chromebook owners, and is certainly one well worth taking advantage of. Two years is a long time, certainly more than enough to judge whether upgrading to a paid plan at the end is worth it.

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Starting with the Acer C720, that went up to three years… ah, and if you keep getting a new Chromebook every two years (like in my case, where it alternates every Christmas: phone upgrade, Chromebook upgrade, phone upgrade, Chromebook upgrade), won’t it keep renewing itself?

Will Palmer

It won’t keep renewing… (from above) “Google say the offer is only available once per Google account or once per device, whichever is used first. If you claim the free space on one Chrome OS device you cannot then ‘stack’ more when/if you buy another.”

Chris Collins

I’m not so sure about that “once per device whichever is first” part. There are several people who have purchased a used Chromebook, where it was well documented that the offer had been redeemed on that Chromebook, and yet the new owner was able to redeem the offer (provided they had not redeemed it under their account previously).

Basically, I used my Samsung, I redeemed the offer. When my wifes computer died, I had let her use the Samsung as a replacement until we figured out what she wanted to do. When I Powerwashed the Chromebook and gave it to her, she was able to log in under her account and redeem all of the “goodies” including the 100GB drive space.

Steve Eaton

I exchanged a Chromebook for another one with the 30day exchange from Best Buy. Even though I linked the new (different brand) machine to my account, I did NOT receive another 100GB.
Seems logical, the 2 years of 100GB is certainly enough to draw you into the ecosystem. With the recent pricing drop to $1.99/month for 100GB will likely be sufficient to keep most people willing to extend.

Steve Eaton

Found this answer on Google own Drive Offer FAQ
Q: I purchased 2 Chromebooks so do I get 200 GB of free storage?

No. You can redeem the offer once per machine or once per Google account, whichever comes first.

TechWings

I’ll definitely be subscribing for the 1 TB that came with the Pixel. But I still have a year and a half left.

mediumsizedrob

Google Drive pricing is so good now, I’ll definitely keep subscribing for the extra space. One can hope the price per GB will keep dropping as it has for all other forms of storage. Time will tell.

amnesia

So, after exceeding your quota, would you still be able to get new emails? Because IIRC, emails sent to you bounce back to the original sender with some error.

If I buy a chromebook today and activate the 100gb of storage, I get that for two years. What happens if after the two years it expires but I buy another brand new chromebook — can I activate the 100gb storage offer again on the same google account? I don’t care about stacking as I’m not talking about trying to get 200gb, simply that I would get my 100gb back again.

I ask this because in the article you say “Google say the offer is available only once per Google account”. That sounds as if once you activate a 100gb storage offer with one chromebook that the Google account is locked out of getting any future 100gb offers… even if you buy a new chromebook after two years.

PaintDrinkingPete

It may be a bit unknown, as the first Chromebook users to take advantage of the offer are just beginning to expire, but my understanding of it is that you get one free 2 year upgrade per account with Chromebook purchase….and that’s it.

So, if I were a betting man, I’d say that no, you cannot redeem additional offers even if you buy a new Chromebook *after* your initial 2-year deal runs out…but I honestly don’t know.

PaintDrinkingPete

It’t pretty clever actually…and to be honest, if I’m fully on board with Google Drive and plan on paying for the storage I need as I need it….which will probably happen after my 2 years are up.

Who knows though…I redeemed my Chromebook offer in January of this year, so who knows what Google will be offering for free in Jan of 2016…? (it will probably be more than 15GB, but I don’t mind paying if I have to, it’s a great service).

D Perry

There is unlimited storage for Google Docs and Sheets. Convert your files and you’re good to go. Same for photos in “standard” size on Google+.

Lou G

That’s why all of my documents become google docs. I can just redownload in whatever format I need.

Ben Mordecai

If you only need 20GB, Copy is a great option, with 15GB free, plus 5GB for signing up from a referral link: https://copy.com?r=3f2An4

http://www.techmansworld.com/ Michael Hazell

Does the ChromeOS file manager offer integration with other cloud drive platforms (such as OneDrive)? Just a curious question.

http://twitter.com/d0od Joey-Elijah Sneddon

At present, no. But Google is working on an API that will allow third-party ‘filesystems’ (dropbox, etc) to be mounted in the Files.app.

Frederic MANSON

OK, OK… And if I have my Google free storage account full at 100% aka 100 Go, will Google keep my 100 Go on their cloud after the deadline?

I do not care if I can not add more files, I can use a 128 Go SDXC card for that. That way, I can have two backups: the cloud with its 100 Go AND a 128 Go SDXC card.

I already have a Dropbox account as well as a Zippyshare account, all for free. I can use them to put my “moving files” (docs, PDF, ebooks, etc.).

TECHIES_NET

100GB free cloud storage is available with just a signup. Visit the here – http://goo.gl/x92oiN to avail the service.

Charles Dorfman

Google fooled me. I filled my 100 GB Chromebook storage and now it has expired. I thought I could keep my files there but not be able to add more files. I thought my 15 GB free Google account was separate. I have only used around 3 gigs. Now they say I am way over my 15 gigs. They add the two together. What was the point of this? Now I have to delete all my files which I spent a long time uploading, so I can get back under 15 GB. The 15 GB account should be separate and not count. I also have a 50 GB Motorola offer which will expire next year. That will be useless too. I thought I was going to have 150 GB total that I could use to fill up and then have access to after expiration. I would always have my 15 GB for email, photos, etc. What a disappointment. I guess they want to pay to keep over 15 GB.

Mark Gray

You could just pay the $2 a month and keep the 100 gigs. That’s one solution.

Mark Gray

PS: Another solution would to be to download it all to an external hard drive or another computer with 100 gigs free. I got a 3 or 4? terabite external hard drive for around $100 at Frys. I hope this helps.

Charles Dorfman

I do have several large external hard drives, Mark. I just wanted most of my important stuff up on the cloud so I could access it from all my devices. I could pay a monthly fee as you suggest but I could probably use 1 TB. Anyway, I purchased the new Toshiba Chromebook 2 yesterday so now I get 1 TB free for 2 years. I now have to some time to thing about what I want to do. LOL. Thanks again for your reply.

Mark Gray

I hate being hit with never ending fees after I but something so now I am looking into the fire HD or HDX 6 or 7. Unlimited cloud storage forever, tons of free apps even for creating word docs and power points etc and they give you one paid app per day for free too (365 a yr) and lots more. Since we are already Amazon Prime members (for free shipping and movies and music, books etc) it only makes sense to go this way. Fast loading etc. The reviews are off the hook and most of all, we can get a keyboard too. It’s small enough for us to take everywhere vs something larger.

Becky Dunaway

What is a good “filing” system for your files with all of this storage? If google photos do not count against your storage quota… what is a good organization system for everything. I’m new to this. My storage 115GB expires 10/15. I’m not even full with 15 GB storage and have 10,000+ photos. Not many files. I have many devices. Thanks

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/shimmy/ Shimmy

You still didn’t say what happens when it expires. Is all data gone? Archived? Will I be given a due date to empty my drive before data is erased?

JoeP

It’s right there under The Basics.

“This is the question many readers ask us. The good news is that your files are not deleted when the offer expires.Instead, Google will prevent you from uploading further files until you fall back below the regular quota of 15GB.”